rjrpar

By all means bring her. Celebrity is like most other mass market cruise line, not overly refined or elegant. Mostly nice people looking to have fun. You will find more elegance on the premium lines.

I would not go on a 3 night cruise. It really is only 2 days.

A friendly smile and a "green" handshake always works

Exactly, and it happens all the time. Probably less on cruise ships than land based restaurants, lounges, etc.

I might be an example of "excessive" workouts.

 

 

 

My wife and I are exercise junkies at home as well. We work out every day and try to follow a healthy diet. I still run marathons, but used to do Ironman triathlons as well. Last year we finished hiking the Pacific Crest Trail (2,650 miles).

 

 

 

We also do a lot of cruising. We cruised 87 days in 2015 and have 157 days scheduled next year. We are 5 Star on HAL (and pretty far along on 2 other lines). I feel that if you cruise that much, you can't justify letting yourself go, despite the obvious temptations. It's totally different if you're just cruising a couple of weeks.

 

 

 

I try to be very careful with exercise and diet. For example, we did the 30 day South America cruise out of San Diego last Spring on the Statendam (great cruise, by the way). Before I left, I made a spreadsheet to track my workouts and the goals I set for the month. My goal was to work out every day, avoid alcohol, minimize desserts and bread, use only stairs and to dance every evening. I didn't have 100% compliance, but I came close. I had a few drinks, a couple of desserts and missed 2 days of workouts when I caught a cold at the end of the trip. I kept track of my mileage and averaged 8.6 miles of running per day and 14.1 miles of biking per day. I usually spent 3 hours in the gym on sea days and 1.5 hours on port days. I did manage to dance every day, use only stairs and eat no bread, but those things are relatively easy for me. Overall, it was a wonderful cruise and we had a great time.

WOW! What discipline. Don't know how you do it but congrats

I would not enjoy the company of someone who 'bribed' their way to a good table knowing 'they ( the staff ) needed their $$$' more than they did. Not the sort we mix with.

 

 

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People tip all the time to get good seats, priority seating, etc.. If you think this is unusual, you have led a sheltered life.

You can also request your room attendant to deliver ice to the room either early am or the night before; it will last til morning. The fridge won't keep the soda very cold

I wouldn't buy any valuable piece in the islands. On watches you are not saving much and the quality of diamonds is difficult for most people to determine. I prefer to minimize risk and buy near home

I guess since you had one experience with good service on a cruise with tips included we should all assume it will happen every time. We also tip per the guidelines and I think people are motivated by money, so I prefer to keep that option of removing tips for bad service. I agree that the staffs on most cruises provide great service and I believe that optional tips are partly responsible for that effort

It is very easy plus the extra obc

I love Blu for 3 reasons

 

1) right sized portions

 

2) much more quiet than MDR

 

3) gourmet dinning

 

 

 

Some people don't like Blu because the food it to weird for them. MDR just seems so uninspired to us.

 

 

 

Last cruise we took one of the couples hubby's had never cruised before. We booked a 10 day med cruise he loved it so much as long as we did AQ w/Blu & premium drinks.

Can't argue with the first 2 points, but Blu is definitely not gourmet.

Not the first story of violence in St. Lucia

The are creating a new menu soon, so says the CEO.

 

 

 

I agree the quality in food has gone downhill in BLU. We like it only bc it is more intimate and (sometimes) the service is better. Still, we never received a hot meal, especially at breakfast. If it's made to order I have no idea why the food is cold.

 

 

 

Thankfully, we cruise in suites so I am very much looking forward to Luminae, but that is not to say that X should take a close look at what is going on in BLU and get it back up to snuff.

 

 

 

Maybe even have group scheduled seating times in a certain section so if cruisers want to eat with a group they can. I agree eating with a group can be fun and more social, but I also see the other side of the coin where a table for 2 has it's benefits too. When we do eat in the MDR we tend to dine at a table for 8. We have has some good luck with that and not so good luck.

 

 

 

My motto: SIMPLE-GOOD INGREDIENTS-FRESH-SERVED HOT.

 

 

 

If you don't have gourmet chefs making the food then don't try to make the food gourmet. It ain't gonna happen. Slopping a ton of low quality ingredients together, that don't compliment one another, does not make for a good meal. I am hopeful the new head of dining will make some changes. We shall see. GET RID OF THE GNOCCHI AKA- LEAD BALLS!

Hasn't food quality in most of the restaurants on most cruise lines gone downhill in the last several years. I think that is especially true in the specialty restaurants. The need to keep fares low to fill the cabins is the driving all the cost reductions but we all love cheap fares.

Have been on many cruises and never had a problem, but better to be safe

Very happy, will be the Eclipse in February after 2 years and was concerned about repeat shows

Alaskan cruises are more casual. We were on Holland last week and the actual dress on formal nights was more casual than in the Caribbean

Seems like a major shift from previous Blu posts where most people loved it and were willing to pay more for Aqua class just to have access.

My opinion is RCCL has more to do for kids.

Had a filet (med rare) from the PG on my first HAL cruise last week. I was very disappointed, steak was very tough, worse than in the MDR. Had heard how good the PG was but it was the worst steak I've ever had at a specialty restaurant on a cruise. My wife had the bone-on ribeye and it was fair. Maybe we just hit a bad night but prefer the steakhouses on RCCL and Celebrity.

I don't believe everything I read in newspapers, or online.

Or most surveys.

Doesn't seem accurate, way too high

Just returned on 9/9 from 15 day land- cruise and it was cold, windy, and about 5 days of rain. Rain not real heavy but steady

If you sail into Miami, no problem.

Just returned today from the Volendam. Like many above, found the sauce to be very average, like most cruise ship food. Not worth making at home.

Like a previous poster noted, no big deal not being able to reserve pre-cruise, it is easy to get a reservation once on the ship. On our last cruise they were begging for customers and even offering discounts.

Good luck but doubt many have been on both recently. You are going to hear both are great, and they probably are, as is Calabazza